The Best of Us
by LuDiamonds
Summary: "The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity." -William Yeats. Carly leaves for Italy, and shortly after Sam takes off for L.A. looking for a new start. Meanwhile, Freddie is left behind in Seattle wondering how things have changed so drastically in such a short period of time. A story of searching and loving. Seddie. Carly/OC
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: iCarly and it's characters are not mine, I'm just using them for a little bit. All rights go to Dan Schneider and Nickelodeon.**

* * *

"Sam! Sam I need you! _Sam!"_

"Cat. I'm busy. Just give me a sec."

"Uh…uh, okay! Just if you could hurry that would-_ow! _Cynthia, bouncy balls are for bouncing, not throwing at faces!"

Sam smirked as she continued to spread mayonnaise on the bread of the sandwich she was making. With a satisfied nod and a lick of a finger she slapped the slice of bread on the last sandwich and picked up the two trays.

"Alright," Sam announced as she walked into the living room balancing the trays on her arms, "the world-renowned "Puckett Ham Heart Attack", guaranteed to knock you off your socks and leave you wanting more. Bon appetite!"

The kids yelled and scrambled to the coffee table where Sam set the trays down. Cynthia giggled mischievously and pushed through Sam's knees with enough force that the older girl lost her balance and fell gracelessly onto the couch.

"Uh, ow!" Sam huffed knowing deep down that all scolding was done in vain. Cynthia just giggled again and grabbed a sandwich, shoving half of it into her mouth in one bite. Cynthia's twin sister Sophia grabbed the other sandwich and ate it with just as much vigor as her sister.

"You girls better chew, chew, chew or you're going to choke and-ugh, Sam they're not even listening!" Cat stepped over the back of the couch and sunk down beside Sam.

"When do they ever listen? What little twerp that we've had in this apartment has _ever_ listened to us?" Sam countered. They both watched as the two girls giggled and ran off with their sandwiches, squealing and bouncing their way to Cat's bedroom. Cat groaned and rested her head on Sam's shoulder for a moment before jumping up and running after them.

"I really think it's awesome that you like my room so much, but I don't think spreading mayonnaise on my bed sheets goes well with the whole vibe I'm going for!"

Sam chuckled as she rose from the couch and picked up the now empty tray. On the way back to the kitchen she heard a soft_ ding_ and felt the buzz of her phone in her back pocket. She set the tray down on and leaned back on the counter as she pulled the pear shaped device out of her pocket.

An email from Carly.

_SAM!_

_Okay, it's seriously crazy how much I miss you! I'm sorry it took me so long to reply, but I've been so busy with school…like it's so insane here. They take learning so seriously, we have so many cool labs where we study plant and animal life and we just did this whole "Sea Week" thing where we got different organisms from the ocean and ran all these tests and….I realize how much you probably don't care about this haha._

_But as usual I've attached a chiz load of pictures and in those pictures you'll find all these crazy fish that look like they walked straight out of a nightmare and I know you'll think they're cool. Also in those pictures…_

_Okay, so you know how in the last email I was talking about James, one of the other military brat kids at the base I go to school with? Well he was really sweet and all but then I met this new guy, and Sam…oh my gosh you'd absolutely adore him! His name is Nico (isn't that such a cute name omg) and he's Italian. He lives in the little village right outside the base and he's a fisherman. Well, his father is a fisherman so that's what he'll be too. And he's got these deep brown eyes and dark curly hair and tan skin, and oh my gosh he has like the biggest arm muscles ever! And you know how I'm a sucker for arm muscles. _

_Well, anyway he has this boat and he took me out on it and oh my gosh it was so beautiful! But I took tons of pictures (and I made sure to include some of Nico and I) so you have to tell me what you think! I'm sure you guys would get along…he's so adventurous, like I'm pretty sure nothing scares him, and spontaneous and he can play the guitar…*sighs* ugh he's so sweet._

_I want you to meet him. I wish you could meet him. I wish you were here…I miss my best friend and all the craziness that goes along with you. I think I especially miss all the crazy food concoctions you'd throw at us. Haha but anyway enough about me!_

_How are you? Tell me everything, how's LA? Is it as wonderful as everyone says? Have you fallen in love with any celebrities yet ;) ? And how's Cat and the babysitting thing going? I'm going to be honest with you, you taking care of young children is not exactly the career path I had in mine for you…but if the kids aren't dying and you're making good money then who am I to judge? And Cat seems really sweet, too sweet if you ask me, but then again I'm not judging. I'm just glad you found someone to help you out so soon. Cause it could have been worse._

_I know you're probably going to roll your eyes as you read this, but I'm your best friend so I get to scold. And here it comes with the scoldin. I know you left like 5 months ago, but it was really scary finding out from Spencer that you just left and no one knew where you were and you didn't even say anything to Freddie and we thought you were dead…just, when you come to life changing realizations and decide to hit the open road…give a little warning next time. And I swear I won't say anything about this again in the next email (but I say that every time don't I). Anyway, just email me when something is up, I wish I could call but long distance and everything…_

_Speaking of calling, and I know it's pointless to mention this too because you always ignore these parts of my emails but…, I really wish you would call Freddie. He acts okay, but I know he's really lonely. His best friends just up and left him, and I'm not blaming you! Cause I did the same thing, but…we talk about you. Nothing really dramatic as it sounds but just casually…reminiscing on better times and all that…I know he misses you a lot. And I know you miss him too, not that either of you would ever admit it with your whole "frenemy" thing going on. (Really, I'd thought you two would grow out of that by now ESPECIALLY after you DATED—whoops, I'm not supposed to talk about that either, silly me ;) ) But seriously…I know he calls you sometimes, and texts you more. And you hardly ever reply, I know you've never answered his calls._

_You don't have to talk to me about it, but I know he misses you so much. So just…think about it._

_Well I think that's enough mushy stuff for one email! Email me back IMMEDIATELY or I will hunt you down and kill you. I love you so much! _

_Carly 3_

_P.S. you better look at all the pictures I sent you Sam Puckett!_

Sam swallowed and read the email once again.

_Silly Carly_, she thought fighting back the intense longing for Seattle and the Pre-Move to Italy time. She set her phone down beside her on the counter and stared down at her scuffed grey shoes. She smiled to herself as her fondness for Carly burned up inside her, warming her heart. Carly and her bubbly, sweet and boy crazy ways. Carly the clucking, ever responsible mother figure. Always making sure her and Freddie are-…

_Freddie._

Sam scowled at the mixed emotions arising in her at the thought of Freddie. She wasn't stupid and she had noticed Carly oh so "casually" bringing up more of Freddie in each of their emails, but this was the first time she was so bold to actually confront Sam about her lack of communications with their mutual best friend.

_Best friend_, Sam scoffed at the thought.

That maybe wasn't the best title for Freddie. Friend, confidante, co-conspirator, brother, lover-

_Traitor._

Sam frowned. Freddie had been all of these to her. Unfortunately, he had also experienced the same feelings with Carly. And that was always their problem.

She never blamed Carly. Never. Carly was her best friend and her soul sister and ever since they first became friends as children she could never stay mad at her. And it's not Carly's fault. Not really. Carly was beautiful and sweet and kind and she always smelled like strawberries and vanilla. Guys never stood a chance.

Especially not impressionable little Freddie. And even when Freddie became not so little, he always loved her. Just like Sam did. But not in the same way.

And that last night before Carly left…

Of course she saw the kiss. Really, Sam was glad she saw it. If she hadn't she probably would have entertained some ridiculous idea that since Carly was having her own personal adventure in Italy that maybe her and Freddie could…-

But, that was ridiculous. Obviously Freddie still, and always will, have feelings for Carly and it was kind of pathetic of Sam to keep trying to interfere. Freddie and Sam clicked as friends once, and maybe that was how it was supposed to be.

But Sam knew that she would never be able to figure that out until she left. So she wouldn't have to see his stupid nub face everyday.

And seeing that stupid kiss wasn't _the_ reason she left. There were other factors too. Crazy mom, best friend leaving, dumb teachers. Plus she was 18 and she realized she was officially an adult…and had never lived anywhere other than Seattle. How boring, how _dull_ considering who Sam was. Who Sam and everyone else thought her to be. Exciting, dangerous, mysterious, adventurous.

Exciting and dangerous women lived in more places than Seattle.

Mysterious and adventurous girls didn't pine over childhood best friends who pined over their childhood best friends.

Sam sighed and shook her head as to shake these memories of Freddie away. She was over that. Really.

And looking back on it, hopping on her bike without so much as a goodbye all because she saw a private goodbye kiss shared between two people who cared about each other was a_ tad_ melodramatic. Not that she would ever admit that.

And Sam would be completely lying if she said she didn't have a flair for the dramatic.

Sam sighed and pushed herself away from the counter. She should probably go save Cat from those insane twinlets.

_Maybe Carly was right_, she thought as she made her way to Cat's room._ It wouldn't be so hard to shoot Fredbag a text_. She hasn't even told him where she lives now and she's been here for 5 months. Maybe she was drawing this out-

Sam froze at the sight in front of her.

"Cat! How the _hell_ did they tie you to the fan?!"

* * *

**AN: I'm baaaaack! Okay, so I know that I half-started a story right after iGoodbye like last year, but looking back that was extremely *****ahem***** emotionally charged because I was definitely emotionally compromised by that ending.**

**SO, I just kind of stopped that one because it wasn't really going anywhere and bleh.**

**But now that Sam and Cat finally premiered, I've been set on Seddie fire again because I'm just really intrigued to see Sam away from Carly and Freddie and how she grows apart from those two.**

**And then I was thinking about how the other two are doing and how it affected Freddie with the whole Sam not saying goodbye and-…yeah.**

**Anyway this will be multi-chapter (I'm not sure how many yet) and even though it may not seem like it, it will be filled with Seddie fluffs (flashbacks YAY).**

**So please review! I hope the Seddie fandom is still out there and kickin' even after iCarly ended! :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: iCarly and it's characters are not mine, I'm just using them for a little bit. All rights go to Dan Schneider and Nickelodeon.**

* * *

"Things are great, really. Like I had a great summer. Swear. Good news, I'm probably going to Yale or something. Yeah, it's going to be awesome. No, yeah, I'm fine."

This was the script Freddie had been reciting for _days_ now. Weeks actually. No. Months. Definitely months.

You know, when his two best friends decided to take off in the middle of the night the _least_ they could have done was shoot him a warning text like a week in advance.

Or tell someone. It didn't even have to be him. If one of them just told _any_ other person at this god forsaken school it could have saved him the horror of everyone walking on eggshells around him like he was constantly living in a goddamn wake.

Carly left for Italy with her dad. Sam left for-…well, Sam left for somewhere.

But they weren't dead. And Jesus Christ, they weren't his only two friends. Seriously you think the way people looked at him it was like his parents died in a car crash, his puppy was eaten by an anaconda, and he was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor all in the same day.

Yeah, they were his best friends. Yeah, he missed them like crazy. And yeah, he still does. But life didn't stop for Freddie the day Carly Shay and Sam Puckett walked out of his life, contrary to everyone's belief.

And maybe a little of his too.

Because it's true, Sam and Carly weren't his only friends. But they were always just…_there. _Always a part of his life. He's been friends with Carly ever since he could remember and Sam has been with Carly ever since he can remember. And then Sam was just as important as Carly. They were the one constant in his life. Through all the changes, through all the ups and downs in his life he was sure of one thing: Carly and Sam always had his back.

Even though Sam would probably rather be caught dead then admit that, but Freddie has seen her protective/supportive side too much to ever doubt how much their friendship is worth.

And then one day they weren't there.

Carly left and that was hard. He knew her trip to Italy wasn't a permanent one, but it was longer that a couple months and at that point in his life that was probably the longest time Carly and he had ever spent apart. And their goodbye was emotionally charged and they both were feeling the weight of growing up on their shoulders and those few brief words and that last spark of feeling between them was a much-needed finale for the "Freddie Loves Carly" saga. It was closure and marked an ending, but also a new beginning for both of them. And even though he missed her dearly, he slept easily that night knowing that no tears would be shed for the departure of Carly Shay.

And then stupid Sam up and took off in the night and royally fucked shit up for Freddie.

He remembered the fear that week that Carly left and Sam was missing. The first day and he hadn't heard from her or seen her at school was normal he supposed. After their maturing out of the whole "tugging of the pigtails" phase and after their awkward first attempt at romance they had grown into some meld of close friends and "maybe something more". The "maybe something more" was never discussed and Freddie was okay with this because it still meant they were close friends.

Still, he knew Carly leaving would rock Sam, and Freddie waited patiently for her to come to him.

If you can call waiting for exactly one day and then picking up his phone and calling her over and over until he filled her voicemail with pointless "Hey, so what up's" and blowing up her phone with texts that read, "Hey, did you get my call?"

Not getting a reply and not seeing her at school for the next couple of days didn't call for immediate alarm because Sam wasn't always a reliable text reader or replier and since it was nearing the end of the school year, Sam skipped class often anyway.

But after a week had passed, Freddie was out of his mind. He went crazy trying to find her, gathering the forces of Spencer and Carly (long-distance). The entire time replaying the mantra _God, oh God please don't be dead in a ditch somewhere_ over and over in his head.

Finally after the 20th trip to her house he caught Pam Puckett and forced a somewhat coherent answer out of her.

"What-..what, oh Sammy? Sammy…sammy's fine. Went off. 'ta find herself or somethin'. Took that bike out west. Or south. Maybe east-,"

Freddie shook his head in annoyance at the inebriated woman. "She left?" he asked.

"Mmhmm," Pam gave a lazy smile and leaned on the doorway, "she's a real piece of work, ain't she?"

"Yeah, whatever. But she's okay, yeah? You heard from her, and you're sure she's okay?"

Pam looked down at him with half-lidded eyes. "Uh-huh. Heard from 'er just the other night. Met some cat and now they have a place. Do I know you?"

Freddie sighed in exasperation. "Yes, Ms. Puckett. Freddie Benson. Sam and I have been friends since like elementary school?"

Pam laughed. "Ohhh yeah, good ta see ya Francis, now if you'll excuse me, I have a date with a chicken wing…"

Pam trailed off, turning back into her house and shutting the door behind her.

Freddie closed his eyes and turned around. Leaning on one of the wooden posts on the Puckett's front porch he inhaled taking in this new information.

1.) Sam was okay. Thank _God_.

2.) She left. Sam was gone.

3.) She didn't say goodbye.

He remembers after he told Spencer what was going on with Sam, Spencer relayed that information to Carly. Carly had her "Shay Spazz Attack" as only Carly could do, and she heard from Sam a day later.

Carly didn't say much about what was said between them, but Freddie didn't really need to know.

All he _did_ know was that Sam still hadn't contacted him.

Carly and he still talked about Sam. Almost as if Sam was still there with him in Seattle. Carly never spoke of Sam's new life or where she was now. Freddie didn't ask.

He thinks Carly would have told him if he had asked. But he doesn't want to hear it from her. It's not her story to tell.

Days. Weeks. Months pass. Freddie goes into his senior year without iCarly and without his two best friends. Not exactly ideal.

He gets a summer job at the Groovy Smoothie. So. Free smoothies. That's pretty cool.

Oh, and he's sort of seeing Wendy now. Wendy was really sweet to him and Freddie learned that there were some perks to being seen as the tragedy of Ridgeway High.

Wendy was also a really good friend of Sam's.

Like partners-in-crime friends.

Which made Freddie feel kind of scummy about the entire thing, but not too scummy he supposes cause he hasn't cut it off yet. Maybe in his head deep, deep down this is a way of lashing out at Sam.

He realizes that this is the first serious relationship that Freddie has ever had with a girl that has lasted more than a month. Coincidentally this relationship occurs after the two most important women in his life leave him.

Freddie wonders what those two would think of him if they saw him now. He doesn't think of himself as the Freddie they knew anymore.

He's somewhat glad that Sam doesn't speak to him now. That she doesn't see this Freddie.

Oh, speaking of Wendy…

"Oh, Freddie," she softly moans in his ear. Freddie kisses down her neck, pushing her silky red hair away with his free hand.

His mother working the graveyard shift at work definitely has some perks now.

Wendy grabs his face and brings their lips back together in a sloppy kiss. Freddie tangles his hand in her hair and tugs lightly, which earns another moan. Wendy works at the buttons of his shirt. Freddie pushes all thoughts of best friends and disappearing acts out of his mind as his body goes on auto-pilot and continues, almost routinely, on.

Wendy has his shirt almost completely off when he hears a soft _ding_ from his nightstand.

Freddie sighs into Wendy's mouth and stills his hands. Wendy opens her eyes in protest.

"Seriously?" she asks, attempting to distract him by pressing kisses to his jaw, "it's a text. It can wait like 30 more minutes."

Freddie smirks down at her and lightly pushes her away. "It could be my mom. Believe me, if she's coming home early you don't want to be in a 10 mile radius of this place."

Wendy turns her head and huffs.

Freddie laughs at her and sits up reaching for his phone. "It's probably just Gibby wondering-…"

Freddie's heart stops along with his words.

"Freddie? Freddie what's wrong? Who is it?"

Freddie blinks. Once. Twice. Then he looks up at Wendy.

She looks so pretty with her ivory skin, her black lace bra that she bought just for him, messy red hair.

"You need to go."

Wendy's jaw opens in surprise. "Seriously? Right now. You're joking."

Freddie shakes his head and looks down. "No, I'm sorry Wendy. I…you just should probably go."

Wendy scrunches her eyebrows in frustration and grabs her shirt. When she climbs out of his bed, Freddie rises with her and follows her to the door. When she's standing in the hallway, outside of his door, in front of the Shay's, she looks up at him with wide eyes.

"Okay. Well goodbye I guess?" her tone sounds annoyed, but he knows better.

She reaches up to kiss him and he turns his head so she catches his cheek instead. She slowly backs away from him and he can see the hurt in her eyes. He feels guilty, but…he also can't find it in himself to care.

"Goodbye Wendy, I'll…I'll call you sometime."

Freddie closes the door behind her and walks back into his bedroom. He grabs his phone and sits down on his bed. He puts the phone down beside him, rubs his face with his hands, and then runs his hands through his hair.

Then he picks up his phone again. He looks at the name of the person who texted him. A name he was honestly beginning to think he wouldn't see pop up in his phone anymore.

_**Sam (12:07):**_

_**Hey.**_

* * *

**AN: Okay, so I know I just uploaded the first chapter earlier today, but I couldn't resist getting the ball rolling by uploading the next chapter as well!**

**So, now you get to see Freddie! :)**

**Please review! I love feedback, oh so much!**

**Lucy**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: iCarly and it's characters are not mine, I'm just using them for a little bit. All rights go to Dan Schneider and Nickelodeon.**

* * *

Sam laid back down until her head rested on the pillow of her bed. Well, formerly Nona's bed. But now it's hers. Sam ran her hands back and forth against the royal blue satin sheets, a comforting habit she had picked up recently. She loved the way the cool satin felt against her skin as she climbed into bed after a hard day of chasing wild little brats from sunrise to sunset.

Sam enjoyed her place here in L.A. Her big bed (it could probably fit at least 5 people), her satin sheets, the blue and yellow splashes of paint that she added to the walls, plus the posters of favorite bands and movies that were added to the walls to make it even more her own.

It was a nice feeling being able to have her own place. To afford her own place. To be able to buy satin sheets and posters if she wanted. She didn't have this type of luxury back home. Who knew it paid off this much to have a job?

As much as she hated working when she tried her hand at it years ago in Seattle, she actually is somewhat enjoying herself here. Taking care of these bratty L.A. kids with their rich parents who pay well. Sam loves them. Loves their money. And loves teaching them.

Nothing more gratifying than knocking a Cali brat down off of their little pedestal. Because if it doesn't happen now, then it never will and then everyone will be left to deal with these spoiled little princes and princesses and they'll grow up even more wretched then they already are.

Someone needs to humble them, and Sam feels like that is her real job. And she feels like she's doing something for all of society. And she likes it.

With her tough love approach and Cat's…just a lot of love approach, they really do make the perfect team.

Sam rolls over onto her side and is greeted by the framed picture of her, Carly, and Freddie arms wrapped around each other and smiling. It was taken last year. Sam still remembers the day it was taken. Remembers the iCarly webisode they were preparing for.

Sam closes her eyes and mentally tells herself to calm the fuck down. She can't force herself to go to sleep and her legs won't stop moving back and forth under the covers.

She wants to pretend that this isn't her nerves acting up, but…that's exactly what it is.

That night, after her and Cat finally got those little twins from hell out of the apartment, Sam went straight to her room claiming she was extremely tired and needed to lay down. Cat didn't question her, she never does.

Sam then proceeded to browse through all of the photos Carly sent her (Nico _was _extremely sexy) and then she wrote out her reply.

She told Carly about all the quirky kids that stumble into her and Cat's life and how it is living in sunny California. She talks about their apartment and Cat (she also very subtlety implies that while Cat is very sweet, Carly is the only sweet best friend/sister Sam needs). She then talks about every single one of Carly's pictures from the scary cool fish to Nico (once again…extremely sexy).

She goes on about how much she misses Carly and wishes that they could be having crazy fun adventures.

At the very end she also briefly states that she agrees with Carly about the whole Freddie situation and how she is prepared to improve things between them.

Which is why after Sam sends her email off to Carly she stares at her phone for 45 minutes trying to figure out what to say to her best friend who she, quite literally, ditched for 5 months.

Sam eventually gets aggravated that this is even a problem in the first place and quickly types out a "_Hey" _and sends it before she has time to rethink it.

That was 30 minutes ago. It's now 12:37 and she's kind of freaking out.

_Is he even awake? It's after midnight, I'm sure he's probably tucked all into his bed with his stupid socks and he probably has Star Trek playing on his computer. He probably turned his phone off. Actually his mom probably turned it off. Yeah, there's no way that nub is awake right now. He probably has to get 8 hours of sleep every night._

_Or._

_Maybe he just doesn't want to text me back?_

Sam groaned and shoved her face into her pillow. Why was this even a big deal? So they haven't talked in awhile? She's known him before she knew what a menstruation cycle was. Why does this have to be a big thing?

_Probably because you saw him kiss another girl and then you skipped states, _a voice in the back of her head retorts.

Sam groans again. _This was a dumb idea-_

_Ding._

Sam cracks open an eye to her phone that's lying beside her. The phone is lit up, indicating she received a text. She waits a few more minutes before reaching over and snapping the phone and pulling it close to her face to read.

_**From: Freddork (12:43):**_

_**hey**_

Sam almost groaned out loud again. _Really? It took you almost 40 minutes to say…"hey"?_

Then Sam quickly stopped that train of thought because it took her five months to say it first. And the fact that he even replied at all was nothing short of a miracle in the first place.

_Alright Sammy. You committed to this. Now what?_

A million things ran through Sam's mind. She could apologize, she could tell him where she was, maybe she could ask him…

Or not.

She waited 10 minutes (why text him back immediately when he made her wait like 40 minutes?) and then replied with a simple: "_**What's up?**"_

Okay, maybe not the most noble of conversation pieces but _wow_ she was not ready for anything more meaningful then this. If she was being unfair (maybe she was being unfair) oh well. Wouldn't be the first time.

This time the text came back within five minutes.

_**From: Freddork (1:06):**_

_**Uh…just kind of sitting in my room I guess. What's up with you?**_

Sam closed her eyes and shook her head at the relief that filled when he replied. _Maybe things could be normal between us?_

_**To: Freddork (1:08):**_

_**Lol well I could have figured that Freddly. Wouldn't expect you to be doing much else on a Friday night :P**_

Sam grinned when she got his reply

_**From: Freddork (1:10):**_

_**Yeah, well since you're texting me I'm guessing you are just as boring as I am. Actually, you prob ingested too much ham and you cant move your bloated butt from your bed. **_

_**To: Freddork (1:13):**_

_**Cool man, we can't have one conversation without you thinking about my butt. Get your head out of the gutter, Fredderson.**_

Sam fell asleep with a smile on her face and clutching her phone to her chest.

* * *

"Boop."

Sam gave a small grunt and rubbed at her nose.

"Ah ha ha…_boop_."

Alright. Definitely not a dream and definitely someone was poking her nose. Sam's eyelids shot open and her hand snapped out to grab at whatever was touching her nose.

"Ahhh! _Sam!_ I was just trying to wake you up and then you had to go all crazy and grabby…_ow_."

It was Cat.

Sam sighed and let go of Cat's finger. Cat let out a little whine and frowned down at Sam.

"Now get out of bed, sleepyhead! Jake and Chyna are coming over soon." Cat gave Sam another little nudge with her hand and climbed off of her bed. Sam was reminded how much she needed to fix that lock on her door.

"Oh, and you have a text from a Freddork."

This woke Sam up. She sat up and glared at the back of Cat's head.

"Did you go through my phone?! Boundaries, Valentine!" Sam launched a pillow at her as Cat walked out of her room. It missed and hit the wall beside the door.

Cat giggled from the hallway. "I didn't go through your phone, it was just there on the screen!"

"_Ugh_," Sam groaned to the empty room.

She smiled despite herself and opened the message on her phone.

Well, actually multiple messages.

_**From: Freddork (1:16):**_

_**Lol you wish.**_

_**From: Freddork (1:30):**_

_**No comebacks, huh Puckett? Guess I win this round.**_

_**From: Freddork (1:33):**_

_**Am I allowed to ask how you're doing?**_

_**From: Freddork (2:22):**_

_**Okay, well. You fell asleep…I think. Hope to hear from you soon.**_

Guilt filled Sam up and then washed over her in waves. She threw her phone to the edge of the bed and laid back until her head touched the pillow.

_Too much. Wow, this is too much. Ugh, I suck. He sucks too. We both suck._

"Sam! _Sam!_ Are you getting out of bed? I need some help with these paffles!"

Sam sighed and yelled, "I don't want to help you with your waffle/pancake concoction!"

"Yes you do!" she yelled back in a sing-songy voice.

_Well, it'll give me something to do._

Sam got out of bed, one limb at a time, and then trudged her way to the kitchen. Cat was already standing by the sink, fully dressed in a light pink dress and nude flats. Her (almost-pink) red hair was curled at the end and it bounced lightly as she turned around.

"Here, stir this, please," Cat commanded as she pushed the bowl of batter into Sam's hands. She bounced past Sam to the stove. Sam begrudgingly started to stir the batter.

"So what's got you all grumpy this morning?"

Sam's head shot up and she looked to Cat, whose back was still turned away from her.

"Grumpy? Who said I'm grumpy?"

Cat reached over to plug the waffle-maker into the outlet by the stove and said, "Well, maybe not grumpy. Weird. Down. Off. Any other words for Not-Sam-like."

Sam propped the bowl of batter on her hip and walked over to Cat. "How am I Not-Sam-like?"

Cat looked over at her while she scrambled the eggs over the stove top.

"Well, for starters, you're not wearing any pants."

Sam looked down.

_Huh._

Sure enough, her big T-shirt stopped just above her knees. No pants.

"And," Cat continued, "you had a pretty violent wake-up. You only complained once about helping with breakfast, _and_ you're doing the whole shifty-eye thing you do when something's on your mind."

Sam stared at Cat's profile in shock. Cat reached over to sprinkle some salt into the almost-ready scrambled eggs.

_I really don't give her enough credit_, Sam thinks. _She sees a lot more than she lets on._

A soft _ding_ sounded from their left and Cat perked up.

"Yay! The waffle-maker is all toasty and ready for action! Are you done stirring?"

Cat looked at Sam and reached for the bowl of batter. Sam handed it over to her and stuttered, "Uh—yeah".

Sam took a couple steps back to allow Cat to pour the batter into the machine. Once she had spooned out all of contents of the bowl, she handed both the bowl and the spoon back to Sam. Sam padded over to the sink.

"So. What's a Freddork?"

Sam paused for only a moment before she turned the sink on.

"It's a friend. Well, a nickname for a friend. Freddie."

"Freddie? The camera guy for iCarly?"

Sam watched as water filled the batter-lined bowl.

"Well, more tech guy then just camera, but…yeah."

"I didn't know you guys were friends. You don't talk about him much."

Sam turned around and Cat was holding a plate with scrambled eggs and a paffle on it. She smiled warmly at her as Sam took it. Sam took her plate and went to sit on one of the bar stools at the breakfast nook. Cat followed her and rested her head on her hands with her elbows propped up on the counter.

"So. Tell me about him. You only talk about Carly, I want to hear more about your Seattle life!"

Sam scrunched her nose as she shoveled eggs into her mouth.

Cat sighed in exasperation. "Oh come on!" she yelled throwing her arms out. "Your life is all mysterious with all these hints of a dark past and I'm like Sherlock Holmes trying to deduce you. Throw me a bone here!"

Sam looked at her and smirked at her dramatics. She reminded her a lot of Carly sometimes.

"Well. We've known each other forever. Like. Shit, I can hardly remember the first time we actually met."

* * *

_- 10 years ago -_

_Sam hates school. Sam hates school almost as much as she hates shots. Or spiders. Sam really hates spiders. She also really hates first days. _

_The first day of third grade was like all of the other first days of the previous grades._

_Really boring. And stupid. _

_And long. When the bell rang for recess, Sam almost collapsed in relief._

"_Alright boys and girls, walk in a nice line!" Mrs. Whatsherface said._

_Everyone got up and ran screaming for the door. Mrs. Teacher moved to stop them, but then gave up and sat back down in her chair._

_Sam smirked and blew a bubble in her gum before rising from her desk. Sam Puckett doesn't rush for anything._

_Wendy walked over to her side and then both girls headed for the door. _

"_Sam Puckett, you have a French fry in your hair! That's _so _gross!"_

_Sam stopped and threw a glare towards the little brunette girl standing with her two evil sidekicks. They all giggled to each other._

"_Rebecca Berkowitz you suck eggs. I know you suck eggs because your breath always smells like eggs. _You're _so gross."_

_Rebecca and her gang of dumb butts stopped laughing immediately and her mouth popped open in surprise._

_Sam blew another bubble with her gum, and then spit it in Rebecca's direction. It landed on her shoe._

_Wendy threw her head back and laughed loudly and Sam smirked and crossed her arms in front of her chest. Rebecca looked at her shoe and then gave out a small cry and rushed for the bathroom with her posse following close behind._

_Sam rolled her eyes and continued to the door to the playground._

"_Rebecca Berkowitz. She's so stupid," Wendy muttered._

_Sam grunted in agreement._

_Rebecca Berkowitz was seriously the worst._

"_Hurry," Wendy said tugging a little on Sam's sleeve, "there's a newbie. We're going to miss out!"_

_A grin crept its way to Sam's face. "No way, really? A third grader?"_

_Wendy giggled as they pushed open the door. "Yeah! Some nerdy boy. He's real little."_

_Perfect._

"_Looks like they already started!" Wendy said as they saw a group of kids circled around something up the hill beside the swings._

_Wendy and Sam walked towards them. Sam started rubbing her hands in preparation for the fresh meat that had to be put in his place. _

_There's an order to things around here, ya know._

_But she froze in place when she heard what they were saying._

"_I heard that you don't even have a daddy."_

"_You don't have a daddy? That's so weird! You're weird."_

"_No wonder you're so little."_

"_Did your daddy leave you because you were too little?"_

"_No, he left because he was such a dork! Look at those glasses!"_

_Everyone laughed. Before Sam knew what she was doing, she had pushed through the group of kids and was now standing directly above the new kid._

_He was small. Really small. Like tiny. He was curled up in a little ball on the ground and some mulch was sticking to his blue sweater._

_He had thick, messy brown hair and really big brown eyes. They popped out from his face like a bug because of the thick-framed glasses he was wearing. His face was red and blotchy and tears were running down his nose, which was dusted lightly with freckles._

_Sam frowned in sympathy. This kid really asked for it._

"_Oh yeah, Puckett! Let him have it!"_

"_That's Sam Puckett. She's going to tear him apart."_

_The boy must have heard them talking about her because he flinched when she dropped down on her knees in front of him. She reached out and pulled a leaf from his hair._

_He stared at her in awe._

"_You okay, kid? Hey, don't cry. I don't have a daddy either and look how great I am," she shot him a big grin to further prove her point._

_He gave a half snort of what might have been laughter and then lifted his arm to his nose to wipe some snot away with his sleeve._

_Sam scrunched her eyebrows together as she took him in. He didn't say anything; he just kept staring at her._

"_Look, all the kids here are really dumb. Really. I'm smarter than all of them. So, you better listen to me. When they say mean stuff just don't listen to them and pretend that you're smarter and better than they are. It's really easy for me because I really am smarter and better than they are," Sam shot him another grin, "but if you try really hard then it can be easy for you, too."_

_The kid tilted his head and looked up at her with his too-wide eyes. Sam blushed and looked above his head, uncomfortable with his blatant staring._

"_Jeez, kid, and lose those glasses. You look like a weenie."_

_The kid frowned and looked down. Sam chewed on the inside of her cheek._

"_Hey," she said softly. The kid looked back up at her. "Really, no one will mess with you when they realize you don't care. So…stop caring about what people think. 'Cause people don't know nothing."_

_The kid blinked once. Twice. Then gave her a smile._

"_Sam," a high-pitched laugh sounded behind her, "do you like the new kid?"_

_Sam ground her teeth and balled her hands into fists._

_Rebecca stinkin' Berkowitz._

"_Sam likes the new kid!" she sang. "Sam likes the new kid!"_

_A couple more kids joined her and Sam could hear more laughter bubbling up from above her. Her eyebrows scrunched together and she slowly pushed up from the ground. A chorus of "Sam likes the new kid!" now surrounded her. She turned away from the boy and planted her feet directly in front of Rebecca who had stopped chanting and stood with her hands on her hips and a smirk on her face. Wendy was standing in the back looking slightly worried and her mouth shut tight._

_Sam took a deep breath and let a sweet smile spread across her face._

_A hint of confusion flickered in Rebecca's eyes._

"_Yeah, well. Maybe I do," Sam said._

_Then she reared back, and threw her first across Rebecca's face. The kids stopped singing immediately and all gasped at once. Rebecca screamed and hit the ground, both hands reaching for her nose._

_Then all the kids started screaming, "FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!"_

_And Rebecca was sobbing and looking down at her now blood covered hands._

"_But at least I don't have a messed up nose, potato face!" Sam yelled down at the crying girl._

_Teachers were on her in 8 seconds flat._

"_Rebecca Berkowitz you suck the _BIGGEST EGGS_! She started it! You'll never take me alive!" Sam yelled as she was being dragged by two teachers back inside._

_All the kids were so distracted by Rebecca and the teachers dragging Sam Puckett kicking and screaming back into the school, that they completely forgot about the tiny boy sitting on the ground._

_Sam didn't learn until next year that his name was Fredward Benson and that he lived across the hall from her new best friend Carly Shay._

_First days of school were always stupid. _

_But the first day of third grade definitely wasn't boring._

* * *

"Wow, I'm pretty sure I even knew him before I met Carly."

Cat blinked. "Woooow, that's a long time! And you didn't even tell me about him! Why?"

Sam speared some more eggs. "I don't know. We didn't exactly leave on good terms."

"Oh. That's sad. What happened?"

Sam chewed and swallowed. "Its…complicated."

"Complicated? How is-,"

Before Cat could finish her question, her phone started buzzing. She picked it up and gave out a little squeak.

"_Oh_ my _goodness, _I am _so_ late for school!" She took off from behind the counter and ran to the living room.

"Bye Sam, don't set anything on fire!" Cat yelled as she grabbed her backpack from the couch and launched herself out of the front door.

"I won't make any promises," Sam said after Cat had already slammed the door shut behind her.

Sam pushed around the remaining eggs on her plate. She smiled to herself remembering freckles on noses and too-wide brown eyes.

* * *

**The next chapter! Yay!**

**The first Seddie flashback (baby Sam and Freddie are my weakness).**

**Hope you enjoyed! Drop a review! :)  
**

**Lucy**


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